Dementia & Estrogen: What’s the Link?

Dementia is an overall term used to describe a decline in your brain health.

This can include the loss of your mental ability to think, remember and/or learn. Alzheimer's is the most common form of dementia and accounts for 60-80 percent of all cases.

In fact, according to the Alzheimer's Association, for a woman in her 60s, the estimated lifetime risk for developing Alzheimer's is one in six. For breast cancer it is one in 11. New research suggests that women who have high levels of estrogen may be at a greater risk for developing dementia.

Researchers from French National Institute of Health and Medical Research (INSERM) looked at estrogen levels in more than 5,600 postmenopausal women that were 65 or older without dementia, not on hormone replacement therapy, or any medication that boosts estrogen levels.

Over the span of four years, researchers followed up with these women by comparing the baseline estrogen levels they'd taken of 543 women from the study who did not have dementia with 132 women who had been diagnosed with dementia. Researchers found that women who had high estrogen levels had a greater risk of developing dementia than those with low or normal levels.

When should you discuss your concerns with your doctor?

Mache Seibel, MD, shares the link between estrogen and dementia, and what you can do to lower your risk.